A new study has found home renovations are causing an increasing number of cases of asbestos-related disease in Australia, especially in women.

The study published today in the Medical Journal of Australia found that more than 35 per cent of female mesothelioma cases diagnosed between 2005 and 2008 could be attributed to home renovation.

The Cancer Council's Occupational Cancer Risk Committee chairman, Terry Slevin, says home renovations have led to a third wave of asbestos-caused disease.

He says the first wave of asbestos-related deaths struck miners, then tradespeople were hit and now there are others at risk.

"This third wave now has the potential to reach far more people, obviously because it's in the home renovation stage, and the prospect is, if we live in properties that were built between 1920 and 1990, there could be asbestos in those properties," he said.

Mr Slevin says it is important people are aware of the dangers of renovating older houses.

"What we would anticipate is in the next four-year period, home renovations are likely to account for a bigger proportion of those cases and the opportunity is available now for us to try to reduce that by trying to communicate that this is an important potential exposure," he said.

"People die of mesothelioma, it's a very serious disease, but it is preventable."